Ciba lajiao
Also known as ciba chilli paste, ciba chili paste, ciba chili, ciba pepper, Guizhou chilli paste
PasteFermented
Quick answer
The dried-chilli paste of Guizhou and its neighbours: dried chillies softened in hot water or steam and crushed, usually with garlic and ginger, into a thick mass. Fried into dishes as their seasoning, it is also the base of Guizhou’s fried chilli sauce, and it is fermented into a sour form as well.
In essentially every version: Dried red chillies, softened, Garlic, Ginger, Salt.
2 distinct versions are set out below. None of them is presented as the correct one, because there isn’t one.
What goes into it
What essentially every version is made from, with what each ingredient is there to do.
| Ingredient | Role | How essential |
|---|---|---|
| Chilli flakesWhole dried chillies softened by soaking or steaming, not flakes. The studies use local cultivars and sometimes blend two; SpiceHQ records the dried chilli product generically because it holds no profile of those cultivars. | heat | defining |
| Garlic (fresh) | savoury depth | usual |
| Ginger (fresh) | supporting aromatic | usual |
| SaltAlways present in the fermented form, where it governs the fermentation. | salt | usual |
The constant is dried chilli, softened and crushed. How it is softened varies (soaking in warm or boiling water, or steaming), and so does how it is crushed: pounding, mincing and knife-cutting each give a different texture, and one study found they change the aroma of the sauce fried from it. The ciba pepper made for Guizhou’s fried chilli sauce is chilli alone; the fermented form adds salt, fresh garlic and fresh ginger and is sealed for about a month, turning it sour. Sichuan pepper has been studied as an addition to the fermented paste, and made it more aromatic.
The versions
Each attributed to whoever describes it. The sources say what goes in and how it is made and give no amounts, so none are shown.
Fresh ciba lajiao
Regional traditionGuizhou practice, as described in food-science studies and regional cookery writing · no amounts given · medium confidence
Dried chillies softened in hot water or steam, then crushed with garlic and ginger to a thick paste, pounded in a mortar or minced, and fried into a dish the same day or kept cold.
Made with: Dried red chillies, softened, Garlic, Ginger. The source gives no amounts, so none are shown.
The source describes how the chillies are softened and crushed; the garlic and ginger in the unfermented paste rest on cookery writing, not on it.
Fermented ciba lajiao
Regional traditionSouth-western China, particularly Yunnan and Guizhou, as described in food-science studies of the fermented seasoning · no amounts given · medium confidence
Rehydrated dried chillies crushed with salt, fresh garlic and fresh ginger, packed into sealed jars and left to ferment for about a month. Lactic acid bacteria sour it, and the finished paste is sour and gentler than the fresh one.
Made with: Dried red chillies, rehydrated, Salt, Garlic, Ginger, Sichuan pepper. The source gives no amounts, so none are shown.
The sources disagree on its status: one calls ciba chili a traditional fermented seasoning, the other describes fermentation as a step added to improve it. Their proportions are research formulations and are not reproduced. Sichuan pepper was tested as an addition in one study; it is not reported as usual.
Fermentation
What makes it what it is, as studies have found it. Observations, not a method to follow.
Fermented ciba chili
Lactic fermentation · Guizhou, China, Yunnan, China, Sichuan, China · also ciba lajiao (fermented form)
Dried chillies, rehydrated or boiled, crushed, mixed with salt and sealed to ferment. One study added 6 per cent salt and 5 per cent sugar, with or without 5 per cent Sichuan pepper; another mixed chilli, salt, fresh garlic and fresh ginger at 100:8:5:3.
In a spontaneous fermentation followed by 16S rRNA sequencing, the bacteria that came to dominate depended on the chilli cultivar: Lactiplantibacillus in paste made from one cultivar, Weissella in another, and a slower, less orderly rise of Weissella in a third. No starter culture was used.
The fermentations studied were spontaneous and sealed, in ceramic or food-grade jars, for 35 days in one study and about a month in the other.
Fermented without Sichuan pepper, the paste was mainly sour in an electronic-tongue profile. Sixty volatile compounds were identified, chiefly terpenes, alcohols and esters, and adding Sichuan pepper raised the terpenes in particular, among them limonene, β-myrcene and α-phellandrene. Across cultivars, one paste gained acids and esters late in fermentation, another kept more aldehydes and formed esters earlier, and a third was richer in alcohols, ketones, furans and pyrazines.
What goes into it
- Fermented: Dried chillies, rehydrated or boiled (Whole dried chillies of named cultivars; no single chilli in this catalogue is the one used.)
- Seasoning added: Sichuan pepper (Five per cent in one arm of one study, which compared paste with and without it.); Fresh garlic; Fresh ginger
- Salt: Salt (Six per cent in one study; eight parts to a hundred of chilli in the other.)
Organisms studies found, and how
- Lactic acid bacteria: Lactiplantibacillus — reported as dominant, found by sequencing. Paste made in the laboratory from one of three chilli cultivars compared, fermented unaided. Sources: Multi-omics and machine learning reveal the… (Abstract) Weissella — reported as dominant, found by sequencing. Paste from a second of the three cultivars; in the third it rose more slowly. Sources: Multi-omics and machine learning reveal the… (Abstract)
What is not established: Two laboratory studies with research formulations; household and factory practice may differ. Flavour was assessed by instruments and not by a trained panel. Neither study examined hazards. Ciba chili is also made and used unfermented, which this profile does not describe.
Using it
Fried slowly in oil at the start of a dish until the oil turns red and the paste smells toasty, then the meat or vegetables go in. It burns if the heat is high, and must be cooked through: raw, it tastes harsh.
Deep, fragrant chilli with the sweetness of soaked dried pods, sharpened by raw garlic and ginger; fried in oil it becomes rounder and toasty. The fermented form is sour.
Hot, depending on the chillies chosen.
- Guizhou chilli chicken
- Stir-fried meat and vegetables
- Frying into chilli oil and fried chilli sauce
Scaling: Made in batches by eye; the fresh paste keeps in the fridge under a film of oil, so larger batches are usual.
Storage
Good for: not established
Refrigerated in a clean jar, covered with a film of oil.
Unlike a dry spice blend, this is a perishable food: mould means it is discarded, not merely past its best. Sourness is a spoilage sign only in the fresh paste.
Allergens and safety
Not among the substances that must be declared as allergens under EU Regulation 1169/2011 Annex II or under the United States major food allergen rules. That is a statement about labelling law and not about whether allergy occurs: allergic reactions to spices are documented in the clinical literature and are simply not a labelling category. Where a ground spice presents an allergen risk it is usually through adulteration or shared processing equipment rather than through the plant itself.
Culture and origin
South-western China: Guizhou above all, where ciba pepper is the first stage of the province’s fried chilli sauce production, and Yunnan and Sichuan as well.
Guizhou
Guizhou, China.
Guizhou cooking is built on sour and hot, and ciba lajiao is the hot half: the province’s chilli chicken, stir-fries and chilli oil start from it, as its sour soups start from fermented chilli and tomato. The name compares its sticky texture to ciba, pounded glutinous rice cake.